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Robjn Taylor lets forth, where to see Heather, heralding snow, how to pay for outdoor ed, and more highway frothing.

The Mounties get their men I was nervous on New Year’s Eve.

The Mounties get their men

I was nervous on New Year’s Eve. I mean, when legal-aged, celebratory miscreants travel north from their homes in Creekside, via WAVE transit, all the way to Brio, to recreate soiree-style at the homes of beloved friends and beliked acquaintances, I’m not one to panic.

However, when I consider the possibility that they could be smuggling festive beverages in their backpacks, purses, and/or other such personal compartments, I lose my mind. I really do. To think that these merry-makers, these Citizens of the World, would dare to abuse the public transit, and the community’s trust. How dare they leave their cars at home? How dare they decide that the half bottle, that they already have, will suffice for the evening, instead of endeavouring to purchase a full bottle, sealed shut, with which they might legally travel? How dare they drink in moderation? It makes me so very angry.

Fortuitous then, that officers of Law Enforcement were available to intercept these buses, these Bootlegger Shuttles, and accost the perpetrators within, and relieve them of their discreet alcoholic provisions.

Ha ha, take that you proletariats! Maybe if you’d worked a little harder, you could have afforded a taxi. I doubt the Fuzz would have caught you then. Or, even better, maybe you should have been a little less responsible and driven your car.

And so, a very large thanks: To the RCMP for sending the right message and discouraging alternate means of travel, and for, whilst maintaining a zero-tolerance for alcohol within the village, setting up bus raids at road blocks in Alta Vista (which completely makes sense). Next time, give me a call, and I’ll help you hold him down as you kick the zest for celebration right out of the Good Man.

Robjn Taylor

Whistler

 

Vote for Heather

I was delighted to see your coverage of the talented Heather Roberts and the VAST Film Awards in last week’s Pique. However, you gave no information on where to see Heather’s movie or how to vote.

The VAST Awards competition is held annually by Peak Performance, Sweden’s largest skiwear brand. With leading international ski magazines distributing a VAST DVD across the globe and inviting the public to vote on their top movie, plus a $50,000 prize purse, the VAST Awards are truly the world’s largest ski film awards.

The team here at Peak Performance in Whistler are all rooting for Heather and we’d like to invite everyone to pass by the new store in Mountain Square to check out the movies and pick up a copy of the VAST DVD. Don’t forget to vote! www.vastawards.com

Gillian Morgan

Manager Peak Performance General Store Whistler

 

Go Whistler go!

I’d like to extend huge congratulations to Whistler for such a fantastic start to the winter season, with record breaking snow, an estimated 16 per cent increase in room nights over the 2005 holiday season, excited guests and locals at every turn, and a forecast for the second winter season of increased room nights following several years of declines.

To the frontline staff who work with our guests day and night offering Whistler hospitality and a welcome to our amazing community.

To the many businesses that have participated in the very successful vacation package offers to Whistler this season, from the early booking offers to Mondays free and many others.

To the outstanding marketing and awareness building achieved by Tourism Whistler, Whistler-Blackcomb, the hotels, tour operators and other partners helping to promote Whistler.

To the diverse quality products that so many businesses offer to our guests, from skiing and snowmobiling, to fine dining, physiotherapy, coffee, ski tuning, shopping, and so much more.

To the RMOW for the amazing seasonal decorations, the tireless work on snow clearing and keeping the town looking and running smoothly.

To the Whistler Chamber of Commerce for continuing to help enhance visitor experience and employee development through programs such as the Whistler Spirit Program.

To Whistler-Blackcomb for the new Symphony Express lift and its truly world-class mountain operations.

To the countless volunteers and community members whose daily efforts contribute to exceptional memories for guests and locals alike.

To Mother Nature and Ullr for keeping the snow coming… 27 feet and counting!

There is nothing quite like the spirit of Whistler to bring about true magic in the mountains.

Let’s keep up the great work in showing Whistler as the world-class resort that it is.

Rick Clare, Chair

On behalf of the Staff and Board of Directors

Tourism Whistler

 

The irony of the court’s decision

It was uplifting to read about Claire Daniels (Pique, Alta States Jan. 4), gratifying for her teachers to hear her praise and inspiring to know what an excellent program the Outdoor Education Program (O.E.P.) is. Many parents and teachers would be interested to know that we may lose educational opportunities like the O.E.P. due to a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision.

This fall the court ruled that public schools may no longer charge fees for supplies or instruction. The School Act, Section 82 states that, “A board must provide free of charge to every student of school age resident in British Columbia and enrolled in an educational program in a school operated by the board, instruction in an educational program sufficient to meet the general requirements for graduation, … and educational resource materials necessary to participate in the educational program.”

That means that school boards cannot charge for musical instruments, art, wood shop or home ec. supplies or for special programs like the O.E.P.   There are some strategies that school boards are working on that will allow schools to continue to offer band, art, shop and other programs that require supplies not included in school budgets. There is no way around programs such as O.E.P. however, and fundraising may be the only answer.

The irony is that this decision was supposed to reduce economic inequality, but it may have the opposite effect. If schools increase their dependence on parents’ fundraising, funding inequities will occur due to different socio-economic conditions in schools and school districts. It is doubtful that we will see the province come up with the monies to cover the shortfall.

Some of the District Parents Advisory Councils (DPAC) in B.C. have put together a survey, our DPAC has sent the survey out to all PAC Chairs in our district. We have a parent that has offered to put the survey onto the Parent page on the School District 48 website (www.sd48.bc.ca). If you would like to assist us with the survey, my contact information is on the parent page. Otherwise ask your PAC Chair for a copy of the survey. Our deadline is Jan. 31 st , there will likely be legislation introduced in February to set new policy on school fees. Have your voice heard!

Cathy Jewett

DPAC Chair

SD 48

 

A deplorable performance

Re:   Highway 99 Ongoing Nightmares

I could not agree more with councillors Wilhelm-Morden and Zeidler who took the RCMP and the highway maintenance contractors to task for the deplorable performance on Highway 99 that was closed for up to 15 hours on December 14th. Many of my acquaintances were severely impacted by the actions of The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the highway contractor that night. The wife of my senior Landscape Architect left Squamish at 3 p.m. and arrived home at 5:30 a.m. the next morning, cold, hungry and dehydrated not to mention emotionally shaken up. I have personally missed several international flights that cost me tens of thousands of dollars. Clearly, the RCMP and the road contractor take the lives, livelihoods and expenses of our citizens very lightly in establishment of their policies.

Last week, Mr. Colin McCubbin wrote to Pique Newsmagazine about living and working in Davos, Switzerland for 16 winters where winter tires or chains are mandatory on vehicles during the winter months. I highly concur that the RCMP and B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways need to develop much more realistic and sophisticated policies to avert these disasters where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police look more like the Keystone Cops. Bottom line is we need to learn from other jurisdictions that deal with snow as we must improve our performance on the road to Whistler — and the 2010 Games.

I suggest the following policies be taken from Colorado:

1. When there is snow on the roads, all commercial vehicles must chain up immediately. This is mandatory State law in Colorado and as we have seen time after time, large trucks with semi trailers are very ill prepared to negotiate slippery, snowy highways and when they do slide it is usually catastrophic.

The RCMP must post people at Alice Lake enforcing chain-up rules for all trucks and commercial vehicles and cars ill equipped for winter driving.

2. Several years ago, someone in the RCMP came up with the grand idea that whenever there is an accident on the Sea To Sky Highway the highway is closed, period. I have watched this happen many times and it must have been a bureaucrat in Ottawa, thousands of kilometres from the scene making the decision. What happens when the highway gets closed is First Responders and the RCMP etc. all gather at the scene, call tow trucks and proceed to block all traffic for hours and hours on end while they take measurements with tapes, pictures and discuss everything over and over. I do not know who invented this policy but it is clearly out of line and out of step with other jurisdictions in the world. In Colorado, it is State law that all accidents must be moved off the travelled portion of the highway immediately or face significant fines. When an accident occurs, people or squad cars push the accident to the shoulder of the road and traffic is allowed to keep moving so that further accidents and disasters don’t occur and relatively few people are impacted by the motor vehicle accident.

The night of December 14 th , it was this policy that was the lynchpin of the entire fiasco. With an accident at Brandywine Falls, the RCMP decided to close the highway for 3.5 hours. During the afternoon, Highway 99 carries between 2,000 to 2,600 vehicles per hour in both directions. So let us do the simple math; 2,000 vehicles per hour with 2.5 persons per vehicle, 5,000 people with a road closure of 3.5 hours is 17,500 human beings stranded on the highway at the mercy of the RCMP’s bureaucratic policy.

While we certainly respect the safety of First Responders and our Royal Canadian Mounted Police, I think a similar respect is due from those people about the severe impacts of their own wrong headed policies have upon the lives and livelihoods of citizens using the Sea To Sky Highway.

In summary, we are victims of a bureaucratic policy by the RCMP of automatically closing the highway for each and every accident and we should emulate Colorado by moving accidents off to the side of the road and keeping at least one alternating lane moving to minimize the huge cost and stress of users of Highway 99.

Secondly, the RCMP need to start enforcing the use of proper winter tires on all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive vehicles and chains on commercial vehicles and trucks and cars with summer tires. Any vehicle with summer tires or even all season radials is simply not up to the conditions that we sometimes get on Highway 99 and these vehicles should be forbidden to utilize the highway during those time periods.

Finally, I suggest the center medians that are being constructed with the new highway to prevent head-on collisions will need some mouse hole gaps in the median every few hundred metres like they do in Switzerland so that when traffic is blocked in two lanes going in one direction, traffic can be diverted to the other lane for maintenance or when accidents happen, or alternatively, people can turn around and go back if the highway is closed for some catastrophic situation.  

Paul Mathews

Whistler